corners of my home

I declare today The House Day. Reason: Our house desperately needs cleaning and tidying. Due to the fantastic weather the last couple of weeks, it has been ignored for too long. I need a clean and tidy home to feel good. Also, I feel a strong nesting need sneaking up on me. (Only four weeks until baby boy is due.) While I drink my Saturday morning coffee slooowly (or procrastinate, as it can also be called), I thought I would share some photos of our tidy home from the last few months. (We moved in in February; the renovation already feels far away.) I've been thinking of doing before/after posts of each room, like I did after our Bergen apartment renovation four years ago. Would you like that? Maybe I'll get time when my maternity leave starts next week.

So, what are your Saturday plans?

my home office

It has been a while since I had anything to contribute with in NIB's monthly challenge, naturally. Now, finally I do. The theme of the challenge this month is home office, so here you go; my little office spot beneath the staircase in the basement. 

The desk is a kitchen countertop from IKEA (which is nearly 2 m, I think) supported by Hilver legs in either end and an Alex chest of drawers in the middle. The shelves to the left are Galant.

Old apple crates from Åsly are now book shelves for my media studies books and Sølve's economy studies books. No room for my pedagogics studies books though; need to keep them somewhere else. Print by Sandra Juto. 

The cabinets on the wall are from IKEA's Metod kitchen series. By the way, there is no special styling for the photos here! This is a home office in use - grading 8th grade Norwegian midterms.

Sometimes this little reader (mostly disturber) joins me under the stairs.

As a (fresh) teacher (and until recently, part time student) I do quite a bit of work at home, in the afternoons and weekends. I'm super happy about how this little workspace tired out.

things I like lately

The only part of the house that is tidy.

- spending our first night in the new house last Saturday
- seeing how excited Sara is about the house - she is constantly exploring
- unpacking boxes and rediscovering our belongings - especially all things kitchen
- the process of slowly making a home
- our local grocery store has a few of Jamie Oliver's food items, including the green pesto with a little bit of rosemary - so delicious!
- slowly getting back to cooking dinners - this week has been all about simple pasta dishes
- getting much needed help from my mother-in-law early in the week due to my paper that was due Friday - she made dinner and put Sara to bed
- finished the said paper
- having a bathtub - Sara loves it! (I haven't had time to test it yet)
- this post by Oh Joy
- borrowing my parents' Siesta chairs (the brown leather ones) and my mother-in-law's student sofa (bought in 1965) - they look great together
- Ingvild's fint nett no posts
- Sølve brought home two orchids and one green plant after an errand at IKEA
- the five mother sauces every cook should know (via Mariell/Hjartesmil)
- this post by Mariell reminded me that it is too long since I did a similar post
- eating an orange for lunch every day
- ricepudding (Fjordland risgrøt blandet med pisket krem - så enkelt, så godt)
- a slow Saturday morning on the basement living room daybed, drinking coffee and writing this post

- - -

Things I don't like lately

- both Sølve and I have had very busy work weeks
- working on a paper (that was due Friday) every evening after work
- stressful mornings and barely making it to work on time - I think it will take some time to adjust to a new morning routine

our house renovation, week 25 - the week we moved in!

One half of the living room is actually tidy. That was until the moving boxes moved in.

We both think it looks better when white.

We made a desk and book shelf for Sara's room, and she seems very pleased with it.

Tools galore in the other end of the living room.

Kitchen tiles - plus black grout

We haven't decided on a sofa yet, so in the meantime we borrow my mother-in-law's student sofa (bought in 1965).



8 wardrobes, so many shelves to fix!

My Friday task: unpack these boxes in the basement living room

Saturday 2 pm - everything is here!



Sara was so happy to see the furniture again, she hugged them.

A little break from the cleaning and unpacking.

All done!

Nearly done!





Saturday morning, after having spent our first night in the house. Before the unpacking chaos started.

She is moving in too.

- - -

I'm glad to say this is the last of the house renovation posts. After six months of renovation, we are beyond words happy to finally have our own home again.

our house renovation, week 24

The stairway has been installed and we are super happy with it.

Kitchen progress

Hallway wardrobe doors have been installed



We have a sink in the hallway wardrobe - for cleaning dirty boots and hanging wet rain gear above.

Basement bathroom and laundry room progress. It is much darker than I expected it to be, but I like it.

Ground floor bathroom progress

General state of the basement living room (bathroom/laundry room to the right, stairway to the left). Assembling some IKEA Bestå shelves for the home cinema system.

General state of the living room

Due to a construction fail, we are plastering and painting the dining table. Sølve is rather bummed about this, because he spent so much time sanding and oiling the table. But in the end, he decided to be fine with it. A white table works better with the white oiled oak floors.

The weekend weather was gorgeous, so we slowly started the process of getting the garden ready for a lawn. First task: remove rocks